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The government has not repaid any installments and has diverted funds received for investments, using them for bonuses, salaries and electoral expenses. The World Bank has stopped all disbursements and is demanding the return of the funds to their destination...
Babloku's madness and financial adventures during the electoral campaign have dealt another serious blow to the state budget, bringing immediate consequences for the government's lending capacity in international markets. According to information provided by the Ministry of Finance, the World Bank has cut off the Albanian government's access to the use of two Eurobonds with a combined value of 1.1 billion euros, which were contracted during 2024 in foreign financial markets.
The first Eurobond, worth 500 million euros, was issued in January 2024 with an interest rate of 7% and a maturity of 15 years. The stated purpose of this debt was to support public investment and economic stability. The second Eurobond, worth 600 million euros, was issued in July 2024 with an interest rate of 8% and a maturity of 20 years. This was also justified by the stabilization of macroeconomic indicators.
Both of these debts were brokered by the World Bank, which served as a guarantor on behalf of Albania in international markets, supporting the credibility of the Albanian government for repaying obligations on schedule and using funds correctly. But a year later, the reality is quite different.
The Albanian government has not repaid any installments of the two Eurobonds, while World Bank verifications have revealed that the funds were used illegally and outside the destination declared in the official contracts. In the funds supervision report, the World Bank highlights that a large part of the debt was used for unforeseen electoral expenses in the 2025 budget, including:
270 million euros used for bonuses for pensioners and vulnerable groups,
Illegally increased payments for administration employees, outside the organic structure,
Electoral investments and administrative expenses not approved by a normative act.
At the height of the campaign, when the question arose about the source of these “magic” funds, Prime Minister Edi Rama publicly declared that we were dealing with “internal budget revenues”. But the truth is different: these were precisely the Eurobond funds, withdrawn in the name of investments and used to buy votes.
The situation has been further aggravated by the fact that, for eight consecutive months, the Albanian government has not paid the 7% and 8% interest on its obligations, causing a deep crisis of confidence in international markets. In response to this serious deviation and non-compliance with contractual terms, the World Bank has decided to block any further withdrawals from the Eurobonds, as well as to demand the return of the illegally used values, to the officially foreseen destination.
This decision constitutes a silent, but severe, financial sanction against the Albanian government, which comes as a direct consequence of the clientelist, arrogant and dishonest behavior with public money and international debts. If there is no institutional and parliamentary punishment for this financial adventure, then precedents will be repeated, and Albania risks remaining financially isolated, without access to capital markets, while the bill will once again fall on the citizens, in the form of increased taxes and further impoverishment./ Pamphlet
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